[Fot] Ed Barnard passed away

[fubog1]

I just got an email from Ed last Sunday evening, he was checking to see how things were in Fla.
Damn, Ed was a good man, very sorry to hear this.
Glen


 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Kramer via Fot <fot at autox.team.net>
To: fot <fot at autox.team.net>
Sent: Thu, Sep 14, 2017 12:22 pm
Subject: [Fot] Ed Barnard passed away



FOT
 
I’m not on the FOT list so I do not know if this news has made it to the community. I saw on on Facebook last night that Ed Barnard passed away unexpectedly Monday night. I knew he had a complicated medical situation but I don't know what happened. He leaves behind a blended family including Willie and Josh who we've met many times at the track and a bunch of folks who relied on him for everything from tech advice to restoring cars. He will be missed at the track and in the Triumph community.
 
I first met Ed via the South Central VTR Regionals. I was still in the start up phase of the Hill Country Triumph Club, and combining roles as club president and doing the dot matrix printed RAGTOP monthly. I didn't know Ed at the time as but all the clubs shared newsletters and Ed handled the duties for the Red River Triumph Club. We had occasionally communicated about the various events going on around the state. I think he worked for Jeff Sloan’s British Auto Specialists at the time and was still racing his Spitfire. Anyway, in the RRTC newsletter, Ed had said some disparaging things about TR7's and being a defender of all things Triumph I called him to task for it. We were still a very small club at the time. Austin was in the early stages of massive growth and our younger demographics meant that we had a number of members with TR7's and 8's. We met and talked it out at the regional held in Houston and became friends. He was mostly kidding about the TR7's. I'm sure they grew on him over time as they have for pretty much everyone else. 
 
I really didn't get to know Ed until I started racing with CVAR. He was always at TWS helping in a variety of ways. He helped racers, helped the club and having an affinity for Triumphs he migrated to the Triumph pits daily. I always found it humorous, and I hope I don't offend anyone here, that some guys loved the work that Ed did on their race cars and some, rightfully or not,  blamed him for the stuff that went wrong. The same guys, in a different year, might trade places and opinions about Ed's workmanship. The truth is he was a great resource. It's racing, stuff breaks. It isn't easy and you know what, if we are honest we know that we screw stuff up all the time in racing. Move on and smile, that's what Ed did.
 
As the years went by I drove many a lap around TWS knowing that Ed was on a corner cheering on the Triumphs. We are not pro racers. Nobody is keeping stats. We race mostly for our own satisfaction and maybe to earn a little respect inside our clan. If you haven't ever raced you don't know the how it feels to get a race car with competitors all around you. Even after you've done it a hundred times the doubts and nerves still creep in.  You get a little sick to your stomach; probably from influxes of anticipation driven adrenaline. The whistle blows, we start the cars and during the pace lap it all gets replaced with focus. We are supposed to check out the flag stations on that lap but I don't ever recall seeing Ed,  but on the cool down lap there he would be, clapping his hands in approval. 
 
That's how I will remember Ed.
 
Bob Kramer

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